How It Could Have Been
by Anoni Mos666
Summary: Have you ever wondered what would have happened if Jeremy hadn't attacked that night? If Mary-Lynnette's station wagon hadn't exploded? Would she have become a vampire? If you have, this story is for you.
1. Chapter 1

Mary-Lynnette walked to her car, Ash right beside her.

Everything was ten times brighter and she was hearing sounds she had never heard before. There were colors she was seeing for the first time, and it was all so amazing.

What really amazed her though, were the stars. She was seeing things that she had only wished to see with her telescope. It was as if every dream she had ever had about being closer to the stars were coming true.

They approached her car, and Ash slid into the passenger's side. He was staring off, as if lost in his own thoughts. Mary-Lynnette was sort of happy that he didn't say anything. She was lost in her own thoughts, and needed time to think.

Her car started up, the engine rumbling. The whole car vibrated with the force of the engine starting, and part of her felt that it would blow up.

As they drove, she kept blinking her eyes. She hadn't counted on the headlights hitting the blackened road to be so bright. It was burning her eyes, and leaving little imprints of white dots on her retinas.

Mary-Lynnette slowed down and pulled over. She had the heel of her hands pressed against her eyes, trying to stop the burn.

She jumped when she felt a sudden burst of electricity go through her, and she looked into Ash's eyes. They were a blue violet, almost an exact replica of Elizabeth Taylor's eyes.

"Do you want me to drive?" He asked.

Mary-Lynnette's first instinct was to say no, but her eyes hurt. She doesn't want to stare into the lights anymore, and Ash couldn't be that bad of a driver…

They get out and switch spots, Mary-Lynnette resting her head against the back of her seat, and rubbing her eyes.

Ash tried to get her station wagon to go faster, but that wasn't possibility.

"It doesn't go fast. All you are going to accomplish is killing my car." She said quietly, and Ash let up on the accelerator.

After a few directions from Mary-Lynnette, Ash pulled up at her house. He turned off the engine, but neither one moved. They just sat there in silence. Well, as much silence as you could get with the sounds of the night.

Mary-Lynnette glanced over at Ash, who was staring out the front of her wind shield. She didn't disturb him, mainly because she didn't know what to say.

What did you do when your vampire soulmate just stared blankly at nothing? Especially when they have not only just given you your first kiss, but has just drank your blood.

"Ash?" She asked softly, and she reached over to touch his shoulder. She made sure to touch the clothed part. She didn't feel like getting shocked at the moment.

He glanced over at her, and smiled. It wasn't strained, sarcastic, or of the "hey baby" variety. It was a sweet, honest, simple smile. She was shocked to see him smile like that. She hadn't thought him capable of such a smile.

"Go. You need to get some sleep. We have a lot to talk about tomorrow." He said, getting out of her car.

Mary-Lynnette followed him, but stopped half way.

"How are you getting home?" She asked.

"Walking? Why, are worried about me?" He asked that smile back on his face. She knew it was too good to be true.

"No. It just seems like a long walk." She said.

"It gives me time to think." Ash said, turning back around, and walking in the direction of Burdock Farm.

Mary-Lynnette had a sarcastic reply to that, but she held it in. She didn't want to ruin whatever new territory they had reached.


	2. Chapter 2

Mary-Lynnette woke up, and took a quick shower. Her body was sore, and her muscles were stiff. She had no clue as to why either. Did blood swapping do that? She hadn't experienced it when she was swapping blood with the girls….but then she hadn't taken that much from them.

She came down the stairs in a plain T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans, yanking a brush through her damp hair.

Mark was in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal, and she fished a granola bar out of the cabinet. She didn't feel like eating, but she was a little hungry.

"Why did you get home so late?" he asked her.

Mary-Lynnette glanced over at her brother, taking a bite of a granola bar. She shrugged, not wanting to make eye contact.

How was she supposed to tell her brother she was becoming a vampire? Would he approve? Would he want to be a vampire too?

"Jade took me home." Mark said, and Mary-Lynnette felt instantly guilty.

She had completely forgotten about Mark last night. It hadn't even occurred to her to pick him up from Burdock Farm. She would make it up to him, somehow.

They ate in silence, until Claudine came into the kitchen. She was talking to them about something, but Mary-Lynnette wasn't listening.

She was paying attention to the sound of crunching. It was as if someone was walking towards them, but at a distance.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and Mary-Lynnette made her way to answer it.

She was surprised to see Jeremy standing there, hands crossed over his chest, staring off at something she couldn't see.

"Jeremy, what are you doing here?" She asked him, surprised that he was standing there.

"I just needed to talk to you. In private." He added, and Mary-Lynnette nodded.

She closed the door behind her, and sat with him on the porch swing.

"I don't think you should hang around them." He said, rather bluntly.

Mary-Lynnette wasn't all that surprised that he wanted to talk to her about them, since he had given her a warning the day before. Well, a warning against Ash.

"I know what I'm doing." Mary-Lynnette said.

"You clearly don't, because if you did, you wouldn't be messing around with them." Jeremy said.

He was being over protective and a little scary at the same time. She knew that they had been friends since they were little, but he was taking it a little too far.

"I can be friends with whoever I want." She said quietly, but with a stern voice.

"I don't mean it that way and you know it. I just don't want you getting hurt, and you would if you were their friend." Jeremy said.

"I can take care of myself." Mary-Lynnette said, getting up.

Jeremy grabbed her wrist tightly, and pulled her back down to her seat.

"You don't understand. You didn't grow up in this world. You don't know how dangerous and harsh the Night World can be. Please, trust me on this. They are not good company." Jeremy said, and he let go of Mary-Lynnette.

She didn't say anything, nor did she move. In all honesty, she saw the truth in his words. The Night World was dangerous, but Mary-Lynnette was too involved in it now. Too curious to just turn her back on it.

Jeremy looked at her, and she stared into his dark brown eyes. They seemed so dull in comparison to Ash's eyes. They lacked something….something she couldn't name.

Mary-Lynnette stood up, and walked to her front door. Before entering her house, she looked back at Jeremy.

"I know I am new to this, but I can handle myself." She said, and then left him out on her porch alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Mary-Lynnette sat in the kitchen at Burdock Farm, going over the list of suspects.

Time was dwindling down and they still didn't have an answer. It was harder then she thought it would have been. Nancy Drew never had problems like this, and she made it look so easy.

They hadn't added any more people to the list, and they had gotten rid of quite a few. Mary-Lynnette still had some lingering doubts about Bunny, but everyone else had crossed her off the list immediately.

Especially Ash. He had crossed her off the list quicker then Rowan. Mary-Lynnette didn't know why that bugged her so much. It couldn't be that she was jealous, because she didn't feel that way for Ash. At least that was what she was telling herself.

"We are never going figure anything out by sitting around here." Kestrel finally said after everyone had fallen into silence.

Mary-Lynnette had to agree, sitting around and talking about it wasn't helping anything. Plus, she really needed to talk to Ash, preferably in private. She didn't know why, but talking to him about becoming a vampire seemed private. Something intimate between the two of them. It was personal.

Ash made eye contact with her from across the table, as if understanding what she had been thinking. She gave a slight nod, and Ash stood up.

"I am going for a walk." Ash said, waiting for Mary-Lynnette by the door.

Mark didn't question her like last time. It was as if he knew, and didn't want to get involved. He hadn't even talked to her since that morning. She would have to talk to him, and work things out.

Mark was her little brother and he was the most important person to her. He would always be that little boy who clung to their mother to her. The thought of him holding a grudge against her hurt a little, but she needed to work something out for herself. Was that selfish?

Ash held the door open for her, and led the way to her car. She handed him the keys, though she didn't know why. She was fine and perfectly capable of driving. She knew more about Briar's Creek then he did, so it would have been more logical to drive herself.

"Where are we going?" She asked, buckling up her seat belt.

"Some where private." He replied with a lazy tone of voice. She didn't even know people could sound lazy until Ash came along.

That wasn't true though. Ash could be every smart and motivated when he wanted too. Like with 's death being on a whim, and he had dais it himself: he couldn't be stupid or he would be wrong for her. She remembered how he said that he read some of the classic books after partying, and how witty he had been quoting Taming of the Shrew to insult her.

Ash surprised her the more she got to know him.

Mary-Lynnette glanced over at him, and noticed how the dashboard lights high lighted his face, and shaded in some of ash blonde hair some what framed his face. It was longish and there wasn't much to be done with it.

The car came to a stop, Ash parking it at the side of the road. Mary-Lynnette stared at him questioningly.

"We need to talk about some things before we go any further." Ash said.

"I agree." Mary-Lynnette said.

"Once you are a vampire, we will be Night World out laws. There will be no safe place for us, and we will always be on the move." Ash explained, and Mary-Lynnette nodded.

"I figured that." She said.

"I will need to teach you how to feed with out taking too much, and how to memory wipe people. I will help you at first, but you will need to learn to do it on your own." Ash said.

"I will go with Quinn and then come back for you. I have to get the girls off the hook, or they will be coming with us. Either way, I will have to go with him, or risk the extermination of Briar's Creek." Ash said, and Mary-Lynnette just stared out the front of the window.

She hadn't thought that far ahead. She had just been thinking about becoming a vampire, and getting closer to the stars. Ash's words were like a bucket of ice water to her fire. It made her realize the seriousness of the situation. That he was risking his life to give her what she wanted...

"Are you ready?" Ash asked, shifting in the driver's seat. Mary-Lynnette nodded, and Ash started the blood transfusion again.

I am so sorry for the late update. There are some personal things going on in my life right now, and I had to redo this chapter four different times. I am trying to keep everyone in character while creating a new story for them. I didn't think that it would be this hard. In the future you will have to expect a little OOCness from the characters, but I will keep them in character as much as I can.

Thank you for all of the reviews, I didn't think that many people would like it. This was just an idea I have had in my head since I first got the series back in , since I have read DOD. My aunt had an original copy of Secret Vampire, and I had been drawn to Ash since then. That was in 2007. A year later I found The Night World series lining the shelves of Banes&Nobles and I begged my mom to but them all. Since then I have been addicted to Mash's story. (Mash is the shipping name of Mary-Lynnette and Ash, just to let you know).

I can't promise that chapters will be up immediately because I don't know how long it will take me to perfect each chapter to my liking.

Thanks you for everyone who reviewed, and favored this story. Even for the readers who gave this story a chance. A writer is only as good as their readers.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for not being able to update. I am sorry that this is not an update.

I am not going to be able to update until Spring break because of a major WW2 project that counts as half of my final grade in both English and World History. To be honest, I haven't had much time to do anything, but I figured you guys needed to know.

I am not putting this story on Hiatus, because I plan on finishing it within this year.I am so sorry that it is taking me so long.


	5. Chapter 5

Mary-Lynnette was lying in her bed, thinking over about what Ash had said. He had made great points, and she was now thinking that maybe she wasn't ready. That maybe she should stay human a little bit longer.

But then, how much time did she have left? Two years, and then she would be stuck being human forever. Part of her was fine with that, two years was a lot of time to come up with a decision. Though it went against everything she was. She was not a procrastinator; she generally tackled things head on. She was a little too nosy for her own good, but she wasn't a slacker or one to procrastinate.

Mary-Lynnette then turned her thoughts to Mrs. Burdock. Her killer was till walking around, and the doubts she had had about it being Ash had dissolved to nothing. He didn't do it, of that she would swear on her mother's grave.

Mrs. Burdock's killer had to have been someone close to her because of how she was killed. As Ash had said, it was on impulse. So it would have to have been someone close to her. Also, the way the goat had been killed. That only proved that it had to be someone close to her. Who else would have known how her husband had died? Mary-Lynnette hadn't even known until she had met Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade.

This narrowed it down to being a Night person…

The only Night person in the area that was close to Mrs. Burdock was…Jeremy Lovett. Though, it couldn't have been Jeremy. He wasn't the type to just kill someone. It couldn't be him.

A small part of her thought that, maybe Ash was right. Maybe it was Jeremy. It was such a small part of her that she barely even recognized where the lingering doubt was coming from.

Ash couldn't be right. He didn't know Jeremy like she did. Then again she didn't know Night people like he did. Though, even Rowan had agreed with her that Jeremy was innocent. He wasn't the type.

Mary-Lynnette knew how she would dispel Jeremy from the list. She would just ask him. She felt kind of like she was betraying him to even have doubts about him. He had to deal with a lot of things growing up, and an animosity towards his kind that she hadn't even been aware of. The last thing he needed was a girl he had thought of as a friend to throw accusations at him.

Mary-Lynnette rolled out of her bed, slipping on her shoes. She would drive down to the gas station, and just ask him. She wouldn't bring the girls, Mark, or Ash with her. This was something she had to do by herself. She knew that Jeremy wouldn't hurt her, so there was no need. All she was going to do was ask him a few questions.

There was no need for everyone to be there for them. With that thought in mind, she grabbed her keys and headed for her car.


End file.
